Siletz might be the nucleus around which the tribes at Alsea and Grande Ronde could be gathered, and the scattering vagabonds of various parts of this superintendency to which I have before alluded. This would place over five thousand Indians at the one agency, and do away with two others. The economy and advantages are manifest. The objections are the expense of removal and the difficulty of breaking up tribes already located under treaty stipulations. Another very desirable change would be to place the tribes at Warm Springs, and those at Umatilla at the Yakima reservation. The confederated "tribes and bands " are very intimate with those at Yakima, and would probably go there willingly and affiliate with them readily. The arguments for and against this proposed change are similar to those mentioned in the case of Siletz. If these changes were carried into effect the number of agencies in the superintendency would be reduced to two, (Klamath and Siletz,) instead of six, as now, the expense lessened and the whites and Indians all benefited. I have not attempted to elaborate any plan by which these ideas may be carried out; nor am I prepared to do so now; but I think the matter worthy of more consideration than it has hitherto had. STRINGENT LAWS NEEDED. I call your attention to the necessity of more stringent laws punishing the vending of whiskey to Indians, and tampering and interfering with Indians upon a reservation, or enticing them to leave the same without the consent of the agent or superintendent in charge. It is notorious that our present laws do not prevent the vending of liquor to them, and it is equally notorious that nearly all the Indian troubles we ever have had have either originated directly in this traffic or in the aggressions of whites. Indians generally (if sober) do not desire to provoke hostility. There are among them, as among us, thieves and other criminals. There is not that abhorrence of crime in them that there is among enlightened whites. But there is not, according to my experience with them, which extends back eighteen years, that universal proneness to crime and wrong that is usually attributed to them. I have employed them, have travelled with them and fought with them every year since 1849, and I find that, according to the light which is vouchsafed to them, that the instincts of their nature are in the main good rather than bad. They resent an injury, but they are always faithful to their friends. They are barbarous and cruel to their enemies, but no people are more affectionate among themselves. They are ignorant, credulous and full of animal appetites and passions. These qualities make them an easy prey to a class of unscrupulous villains and vagabonds, who flock to an Indian agency like buzzards to a carcass, and by ministering to their depraved tastes and habits acquire advantages which the innate vindictiveness of the savage prompts him to resent. Retaliation follows, and then, perhaps, war. The obvious remedy for this is to restrict whites from reservations as much as possible. Make it penal to intrude upon reservations, and give the agent summary power to eject or imprison trespassers. If agents could have the power of justices of the peace, in all cases arising under the laws of the United States upon reservations, the effect would be salutary. Now it is often a ride of a day or two to the nearest magistrate. If an offence is committed, whiskey selling, theft, or something worse, the offender can always make his escape before a process for his arrest can issue. The agents have no means of prosecuting these cases, and they are often necessarily left to go by default. I repeat that more stringent laws should be enacted in regard to whiskey selling, trespass on reservations, and enticing Indians away or harboring them when clandestinely absent. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, J. W. PERIT HUNTINGTON, Superintendent Indian Affairs in Oregon. No. 14. GRANDE RONde Agency, June 25, 1867. SIR: In making this, my fourth annual report, it affords me pleasure to assure you that the Indians in this agency are steadily progressing in the management of their farms and domestic affairs. They have, during the past year, erected more comfortable houses, fenced and put a larger area of land under cultivation than in any preceding year, and their farming has been done better and more farmer-like than heretofore. A number of them have thrifty orchards that will this year produce several hundred bushels of apples, and others, seeing the advantage of having orchards, have set out young trees, which in a few years will repay them for the time and trouble of taking care of them. These Indians, upon the whole, have more or less knowledge of agriculture, there being but few of them that cannot plough or sow, or work readily in the harvest or hay field, and many of the farmers of the adjoining counties prefer them as harvest hands, wood-choppers, and rail-makers, to most white men they can employ, and when not engaged on their own farms I give them permission for short periods to work for farmers outside. In speaking of the progress of these Indians, I cannot help contrasting their condition now with what it was ten years ago, living then in brush or dirt houses, depending upon fish or game for subsistence, and when they failed living as best they could upon roots, weeds, and inner bark of trees. They now have comfortable houses, and last year raised by their own labor, not including that raised by the department 6,803 bushels wheat, at $2 per bushel, worth... Total value... .$13, 606 00 R 2,936 25 3,025 GO 150 00 560 00 500 00 2,660 00 23,437 25 With this showing I think the department may justly claim that they have met with as much success in civilizing and teaching these Indians to make their own livelihood as the most sanguine friend of the present system could have expected, and were it not that many of them are improvident, they would in a few years become entirely a self-supporting people; but unfortunately it seems a hard matter to make the majority of them understand the necessity of using economy when they have an ample supply to meet their present wants. There is one advantage these Indians have over most others with whom I am acquainted, which is that the men have been taught to do all farm work. I have been on this agency for three years, and have not seen a woman at work in the fields during that time. The crops in cultivation this year are considerably larger than in any preceding year, and at this early day it is very hard to make an estimate of what the yield per acre will be; yet with a favorable season I think I may safely say the yield will be an average one, although the crops were got in later than usual, the spring being very wet and backward. From a careful estimate, just made by the farmer and myself, visiting every Indian farm on the agency, the following is the number of acres cultivated, and the estimated yield; also amount of stock, &c., owned by Indians : 594 acres wheat, at 12 bushels per acre, is 7,128 bushels; 439 acres oats, at 25 bushels per acre, is 10,975 bushels; 53 acres potatoes, at 100 bushels per acre, is 5,300 bushels; 13 acres carrots and parsnips, at 50 bushels per acre, is 750 bushels; 10 acres peas, at 10 bushels per acre, is 100 bushels; 50 acres timothy, at two tons per acre, is 100 tons; 50 acres wild meadow, at 1 tons per acre, is 75 tons. The department has in cultivation for forage, subsistance of destitute Indians, seed, &c.: Forty acres wheat, at 15 bushels per acre, 600 bushels; 45 acres oats, at 25 bushels per acre, 1,125 bushels; 5 acres potatoes, at 125 bushels per acre, 675 bushels; 2 acres carrots, turnips, &c., at 50 bushels per acre, 100 bushels; 35 acres timothy, at 2 tons per acre, 70 tons. Making 1,326 acres in cultivation by Indians and department this year. The government buildings consist of six dwelling houses, two school-houses, one grist-mill, one saw-mill, carpenter, blacksmith, and tin shops, office surgery and commissary, one granary and potato house, and four barns, which were all built ten years ago, with the exception of the granary, and all need more or less repairing. I would respectfully request that I be furnished with funds to put them in good repair before it is too late to do so profitably. These Indians complain bitterly at not receiving any annuity goods last year, for many of the old that depend upon receiving blankets, &c., from the department, and have no other way of obtaining clothing, have suffered during the winter, and one case was reported to me of an old blind Indian freezing to death for the want of sufficient clothing. I have been obliged to furnish some of them out of my private funds with clothing on account of the annuity money being expended in the east to purchase goods, and now lying in San Francisco, where they have been since last fall. It is an easy matter for a person to purchase goods for Indians, but it is not an easy matter for the agent to explain why they are not received. The stipulation in the treaty with Umpqua and Calapooia Indians for the employment of a blacksmith has expired, and I see that no appropriation was made by Congress as provided for by article 2, section 3, of the treaty of December 21, 1855, with Molel Indians, which provides for furnishing smith's shops and paying necessary mechanics for five years in addition to the ten years provided for by the treaty with Umpqua and Calapooia Indians. I would urgently request that this matter be attended to at as early a day as possible, for it would be impossible to carry on this agency successfully without a blacksmith, as he and assistant find constant employment in making and repairing agricultural implements, &c., for the Indians and department, which otherwise would have to be done on the outside at a much larger outlay of money. In my last annual report I drew your attention to the withdrawal of the troops that had been stationed at Fort Yamhill, and also that without an additional number of employés it would be impossible to restrain some of the worst Indians from leaving the reservation, and my inability to follow and bring them back. Several left without permission. I would therefore ask that I be instructed to employ, at a moderate salary, two or three of the chiefs as a police force, to assist me in pursuing and bringing back any who may leave the agency without permission, and when not so employed they could assist the farmer in taking care of crops, &c. I have talked with the chiefs, and they all wish that something of the kind may be adopted, and are willing that a portion of the annuity funds of each tribe be used for the employment of such persons. Your early attention to this matter is respectfully asked, and I hope it will meet with your approval to so instruct me. I herewith enclose the report of the teacher of the manual labor school, whose report is full and explicit, to which I respectfully refer you for details. I fully concur with him in regard to the school-house, and suggest that I be instructed to build a new one, as I recommended in my report of 1866, which please see. In regard to the farming operations, sanitary condition of the Indians, condition of mills and shops, I would respectfully refer you to the reports of the several employés herewith enclosed. They being full, render it unnecessary "for me to go into details. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, Hon. J. W. PERIT HUNTINGTON, AMOS HARVEY, United States Indian Agent. Superintendent Indian Affairs, Salem, Oregon. No. 15. GRANDE RONDE INDIAN RESERVATION, June 24, 1867. SIR: In obedience to the requirements of the Indian department, I have the honor to submit my second annual report. You know by my first annual report under what unfavorable auspices I commenced this school a little over one year ago; the scholars scattered to their various homes over the reservation; their disinclination, and also that of their parents, to let them return again to the school, on account of their superstitious belief of the evil that would befall them should they live in a house from whence the dead had been taken; and then again the children themselves have no more relish for the irksome hours of school than have white children. But, notwithstanding all these discouragements, I have, through your assistance, met and overcome most of their objections, and have induced 29 scholars to attend school, sixteen girls and thirteen boys. These have not been as regular in their attendance as I could have wished, yet they remained many times much longer than I expected, for the moment they took the least cold it was immediately attributed to the school-house, and they would leave directly to escape if possible any further evil. During the year one of my most promising scholars took a severe cold, and after a lingering illness died. He was well advanced in his studies and promised much as to the future. Again the old school-house had to bear the maledictions of his friends, (and I think with some degree of justice ;) and to keep the rest at school I had to send him to his friends to die. The scholars have made rapid improvement for the time they were in attend ance. They all can write very well, spell well, and read in the first reader, and have committed to memory the multiplication table. Homer, Hooker, and Lincoln, have passed to the fourth reader, but Homer surpasses all the boys I have seen upon either agencies. He has passed through mental arithmetic, and has worked through Davies' practical arithmetic as far as fractions. He also spells and defines in Webster's primary dictionary, is a very good reader, and writes an excellent hand. My hopes in regard to him are great, and if he keeps on in the way he has commenced he certainly will justify my highest expectations. During the winter some of the older married Indians came into school three or four days out of a week. Peter Caynier, sub-chief of the Twalahy tribe, exhibited an interest in learning to read that was quite remarkable, and two others have done the same. Thus, I think, I begin to see the morning light breaking upon this people, who have so long sat in such great mental darkness. The boys have assisted me in working a large garden, which, if no unforeseen accident happens it, will prove ample for all culinary vegetables both during the summer and 'winter. Mrs. Clark has taught the girls to cut and make their own dresses and undergarments, and to make and bake good bread, which to my mind is a great achievement. She has endeavored to instil into their minds the necessity of cleanliness, both about their person and work. All this has been attended with difficulties, but I think she has in a great measure succeeded. But in closing I would desire to call your attention to the condition of the school-house; it is so out of repair, the sills lying on the ground have rotted away, and when next winter's rains and winds come I am fearful we will all be found in a mass of ruins. The house is so open that during last winter it was very uncomfortable, and many times the wind drove the rain and snow across the floors; in short, the amount of extra wood burned in consequence of the open floors and windows, would, in my estimation, go a long ways towards building a new school-house. And then again we would be enabled to do away with the objections so often urged by the Indians, "It is a sick man's house, and not a school-house." I have been thus explicit, and perhaps tedious, in regard to the above matter; but the necessity of the case to my mind demands it, for the only hindrance to my having a much larger and a more flourishing school is the wretched condition of the house. Hoping the above will meet your favorable consideration and earliest attention, permit me to subscribe myself your most obedient servant, J. B. CLARK, Teacher of the Grande Ronde Manual Labor School. Hon. AMOS HARVEY, No. 16. UMATILLA INDIAN AGENCY, SIR: I have the honor to present this my sixth annual report of the condition of Indian affairs at the Umatilla reservation. The Indians residing here, consisting of the Walla-Walla, Cayuse, and Umatilla bands, numbering in the aggregate about 800 souls, have during the year remained peaceable and contented. In witnessing the successful operation of the mills and school, the Indians acknowledge with satisfaction the good faith of the government towards them I-Vol, ii- -6 |